This article was published on May 14, 2013

Limelight for iPhone lets you create and share lists of films you’ve watched and want to watch


Limelight for iPhone lets you create and share lists of films you’ve watched and want to watch

With the likes of TodoMovies, Recall, and Flickd Movies already in the App Store, there’s no shortage of to-do list apps designed to help you remember what movies you’ve seen, and remember which ones you’d like to see. But another app has hit our radar that brings enough to the table to merit a look.

Courtesy of a new iOS app development agency called 9:42am – coincidentally (or not) the same time the iPhone was launched by Steve Jobs more than five years ago – Limelight is the first app off its proverbial conveyor belt. It’s also worth adding here that Oliver Cameron, co-founder of private social network Everyme (see previous coverage), is at 9:42am’s helm.

In a nutshell, Limelight lets you browse a movie database, creating lists of movies you plan to watch, you have watched and share these across the social sphere.

How it works

Once you’ve created your account (quick and painless), you can begin browsing existing users’ lists, or start creating your own. There’s Editor’s Choice, which is a curated list, and other users.

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If you’re perusing another user’s library, you can click on any flick and indicate whether you’ve already seen it, want to see it or simply share the title directly with your friends (email, Twitter, Facebook etc).

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You can browse by ‘Popular’, ‘Upcoming’ (cinema launches), ones that are still currently showing in movie theaters or ‘Top Rated’.

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But the real fun lies in building your own lists, right? The idea is that over time, you create two main libraries – ‘Watched’ and ‘To Watch’. You can add titles at any time by clicking the ‘Plus’ icon at the top right of each.

This is where the one minor inconvenience comes in to play. With Limelight, there is no quick and easy way to access a manual search function. As things stand, you have to hit the ‘Plus’ icon, then scroll all the way back to the beginning, which is potentially five steps if you’re in the ‘Top Rated’ section. With other apps, such as IMDb, you’re usually only one tap away from a search field at any given time.

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It’s also worth mentioning the trailer-streaming feature which is particularly useful, though this is also available in other similar movie apps such as TodoMovies.

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The one particularly stand0ut element for Limelight is the sharing feature – you can email, tweet, text message, Facebook or simply copy/paste a link, to your libraries.

With email, for example, the recipient is whisked away to a Web page where they can glean your recommendations and click through to read more information from TMDb.

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The verdict

While Limelight is one of a growing list of such apps, it does bring enough to the table to merit your time (and money). If all you want to do is create a library of your movie watching, receive recommendations and share lists with friends, this could be for you.

One final point here – Limelight could secure itself an easy-win differentiator by going cross-platform. So many of these apps are restricted to iOS, so if this could be made available for Android that would be a great starting point. However, given the core raison d’être of 9:42am is Apple, well, we won’t be holding our breath.

Limelight is available to download now for $0.99 or your local currency equivalent.

Limelight | iOS

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